Published at 9th of September 2025 12:40 pm

Book 5: Chapter 31 Weapon [Part 2]

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Still, level one in Bows only signified the most basic understanding of the weapon. To help counter this, I attached a small, long glass to the bow as a crude sight, allowing me some semblance of accuracy without years of practice. The downside was that I had to lift my visor to use it, creating a vulnerable spot. Also, my strategy would be to target flying formations rather than single targets. It was a gamble, but I hoped my Luck attribute might help.

Nonetheless, some practice was better than none. I tried to intercept stones lobbed by catapults from the battlements. At first, it was exasperating—I missed all but one in twenty shots. Yet my experience with crossbows was not entirely wasted. Nor for that matter was my skill with other weapons under Fen’s flawed tutelage. It had taught me concentration and focus if nothing else. Soon, I began to anticipate the stones’ trajectories, leading my targets, and started to score more hits. In the process, I gained another point in Strength and another level in Bows.

Grinning to myself, I was starting to suspect this monster of a bow was a siege weapon in its own right, given how it pulverized targets.

Meanwhile, the sea had receded, beaching completely the fortress ships, yet the elves had not mounted a new assault. Instead, I noticed shimmering disturbances in the distance—portals, a soldier informed me, that led to the Trials of the Goddess. These portals were another source of Al-Lazar’s wealth.

At first, I thought the elves’ reluctance to attack was fear of my earlier show of force. But I was quickly disabused of that notion: where the sea once lay, a new threat was forming.

Vast legions of Mer assembled just beyond the reach of Al-Lazar’s war engines, anchored by towering elven fortress ships. At this distance, they looked no bigger than swarming ants, yet already it was clear Al-Lazar would be hopelessly outmatched in open battle. Among their ranks, Larynda pointed out the Sea Hydras, half-tame warbeasts boasting regenerative powers to rival my own. Locals called them “Sevensnakes,” an obvious name for creatures that might bear as many as seven heads. Though they appeared diminutive from afar, I knew would be the size of behemoths.

Fortunate, then, that I had a weapon fit to challenge them.

I borrowed a long glass from one of the watchers on the wall and trained my gaze upon the Mer. Odd folk they were—too similar to humans by far. Aside from skin tinted in watery hues of blue or green, and hair that fanned like gills, they could have passed for one of us. The resemblance truly unsettled me, making me squeamish, for in Al-Lazar, Mer flesh was considered a delicacy.

Their soldiers wore a deep indigo armor—curiously reminiscent of heavy plastic, for lack of a better word. Form-fitting, it looked infinitely more comfortable than my own heavy harness, they called it Coralith. It required the touch of the sea to remain intact; without saltwater, it would soon degrade, and it was a curious substance lighter than steel but just as strong. I noticed patches of older, faded Coralith on a few veterans, their once-dark armor dulled by time.

Yet my attention soon wandered from any threat they posed to the fortune they represented. Across that vast host of Mer, I saw wealth beyond measure—so many bodies clad in the material, so much plunder to claim. And since one-fifth of all spoils would be mine by right, I felt my lips curl with raw greed. My mind stirred at the thought, already counting coins not yet won. That, and of course, the God-metal Mithril that I would harvest from the elves.

“What are your thoughts?” I asked my ward as we stood upon the yellow-stone parapets, gazing out across the sands where ocean life lay dying under the desert sun.

“We might be in a bit of a pickle,” she replied, shrugging as though the matter weighed no more than a feather.

“We can leave, if that is your wish,” I offered. I did not look at her, my eyes lingering on the horizon.

“That’s a dream at best, and we both know it,” she said. “I’m no child, and I don’t need kind words to shield me. We’ve as much chance of leaving here as of sprouting wings and flying away on the wind.”

I allowed myself a small laugh. “If I could capture a few of those eagles from the elves, perhaps the story would be different.”

She rested her hands on the crenellations, drumming her fingers as she stared out at the world beyond the walls. “I doubt there’s a beast alive large enough to bear the weight of all your coins. And that, I believe, is why you fight.”

“That is true. I fight to fend off worry,” I said, my tone as dry as the stones beneath us.

She frowned. “Worry?”

“Wealth shields a man from it,” I explained. “At its simplest, coin spares you from fretting over a roof above your head or a meal in your belly. With more of it, you need not trouble yourself about tomorrow. Taken to its farthest extreme, it even buys you protection from those who would steal your fortune in the first place.”

She pursed her lips. “So isn’t it all rather pointless?”

“Tell that to the folk in their palaces, who never lift a sword or face beasts from myth and legend. Or to the poor souls keeping watch on these walls. It matters.”

“I suppose,” she said, her voice trailing off. “Yet it still seems so…”

“It is one of those burdens you would rather have than not,” I sighed. “I would sooner fret about an overstuffed purse than lie awake with naught to my name. But that is not truly what I meant to ask. Will you stay here and fight with me?”

She set her jaw. “I am a Guild member. It’s my duty.”

“Come now,” I teased, though I regretted it almost at once. “You joined only so we could root out that devil who warped men’s minds. The Guild is but a cult devoted to an evil Goddess.”

I saw the hurt in her eyes and felt my breath catch.

I frowned. “I did not mean it like that.” I had forgotten that some truths were best unspoken, and I needed my weapon to be without doubts.

She exhaled, turning her gaze back to the horizon. “No, you’re right. But all I ever wanted was to help people. I know I haven’t always been right, and I’ve had to do…things. Still, in my own small way, I want to make the world better. Some matters are greater than even you or me.”

“Lofty goals,” I said, managing a faint smile. “And I cannot deny they are difficult. On that point, though, I would disagree—I would burn this city to ashes if that was what it took to keep you safe.”

Her eyes widened, just for a beat. “That’s as difficult as a man hoping to live forever, I reckon,” she countered, looking away.

I laughed, the sound echoing. “You have got me there, Larynda. Should we succeed, we must try for one of these Trials,” I lied, not wanting to step into the shimmering portals in the slightest. “What adventure and treasure should we find within? What challenges await us inside that we must overcome together?”

She turned back to look at me, and her usual smile returned to her.

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